


What’s In a Name?

by annabee62



Category: Original Work
Genre: Academia, Dark Fantasy, Fantasy, Gen, Magic, Mystery, University, Urban Fantasy, college shenanigans, this is how i’m dealing with remote study
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-18 15:07:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29491809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annabee62/pseuds/annabee62
Summary: Theo has a roommate. Or at least, he thinks he does. He barely ever sees him, and they’ve managed two awkward conversations in the month they’ve been living together.Then, one night, Theo wakes up to find his roommate’s bed vacated and the door creaking shut.He decides he’d be an idiot not to follow him and find out, once and for all, what Arthur is hiding.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 2





	1. The Beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Started writing this at midnight on a whim. This is the first thing I’m posting on here mostly just for me so if anyone is interested welcome aboard. enjoy my brain vomit
> 
> As of right now, this chapter is practically unedited, but that will probably change. I have a rough idea of where I want this to go, but I'll likely be coming back and adding/changing details as the story progresses. Honestly not expecting anyone to read this so the quality will be... we'll see lol. Bear with me :)
> 
> ANYWAYS keep reading for some dark academia/mystery/fantasy/i honestly don’t know but we’ll figure it out

The rusty hinges of a creaking door jolted Theo awake in the pitch-black of his dorm room. He debated, for a second, whether or not it was worth interrupting a rare bout of dreamless sleep to investigate the noise. Resigned, he sighed and rubbed his eyes with a calloused hand, rolling over in bed to turn on his phone. Theo stared blearily at the screen. It was three o’clock on the dot. _The witching hour_ , an unwelcome voice in his mind commented. He slumped back onto his pillow. 

Accepting the fact that he wouldn’t be getting any more sleep that night, Theo drew back the covers and crept down the ladder onto the cold wooden floor. With a start, he noticed the covers of his roommate’s bed—usually precisely tucked and smooth—were haphazardly rumpled. Thinking back to the noise that woke him, Theo felt the haze of sleep being replaced by a spark of curiosity.

He wouldn’t say his roommate (whose name was Arthur, but insisted everyone call him Art, which no one really did anyway) was strange, per se—it was more so that he was largely absent. Theo could think of maybe two real exchanges between them, which wouldn’t have been so unusual had it not already been a month into the semester. Suddenly determined to investigate, Theo threw on his warm coat and leather boots and snuck out the door.

Padding down the eerie walkways of his university, Theo, not for the first time, regretted his penchant for impulsivity. The night was cold for mid-September in upstate New York, and the grandiose arches in the stone walls did nothing to alleviate Theo’s shivering. The moon was a spotlight in the starry night sky, helping to light his way along with the ancient-looking lights hanging from the ceiling. He tucked his hands deeper into his pockets and kept walking.

Just as he was about to dismiss the whole venture as a bad job, he saw a flicker of his roommate’s trademark burgundy overcoat around the corner. Not wanting to alert him to his presence, Theo slunk into the shadows as he peeked around the corner of the stone wall. 

Theo didn’t know what he’d been expecting to gain from spying on the guy, really. But as it often did, his curiosity had gotten the better of him, and he had to know more about his strangely reticent roommate. 

Squinting into the twilight, Theo watched as Arthur stopped and stared into the night sky. When he stepped forward, Theo could see barely-concealed fear in his pale eyes, usually obscured by his wire-rimmed glasses. He was staring into the forest that grew dense and dark just a few yards from where he stood. 

Risking exposure, Theo took a step forward past the edge of the old stone wall. 

Straining his eyes, Theo noticed a strange, entranced look on Arthur’s face. Enthralled, he took another step, almost into the wedge of unnaturally bright moonlight illuminating the hall.

Before he could blink, a pale woman appeared a few feet in front of his roommate. She had flawless porcelain skin and silken, ash-blonde hair that reached her lower back. Her face was blank, yet somehow serene. Strikingly, she was completely naked. Despite the woman’s sudden appearance, Arthur didn’t so much as flinch, staring at the woman with the same peculiar expression. Theo, however, was not so lucky. Shocked at the woman’s materialization as well as her nakedness, he tripped and stumbled into the patch of moonlight on the ground. 

Just as suddenly as the woman appeared, her entire countenance transformed into something terrifying. Noticing Theo’s unwelcome presence, her head swiveled toward him. Her mouth unhinged, wider than seemed anatomically possible, and unveiled a row of knife-sharp teeth. Her eyes, formerly light green, blackened into pools of tar. She shrieked, an ungodly, piercing sound, and Theo was momentarily frozen in place, convinced he was dreaming.

Finally, Arthur seemed to snap out of his trance. He took a moment to get his bearings. Realizing he was facing off with a terrifying creature, he pivoted on his foot and bolted towards his roommate. Grabbing the sleeve of his coat, Arthur yelled, “Run!”, towing Theo behind him as he sprinted towards the dorm building entrance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Congrats on making it through this shitstorm of a first chapter


	2. On The Nature Of Daylight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here's another chapter I feverishly wrote. Again, minimal editing involved, please ascribe errors to the fact that I'm an engineering major and haven't written an essay for over a year. This one is full of dialogue and swearing but we are moving along. Yes, the chapter title is just a classical music piece, don't sue me :)  
> Also fair warning: I don't know shit about lacrosse or college sports or sports in general so don't get mad at my vagueness/inaccuracies

Theo nearly stumbled as Arthur shoved him past the giant wooden door and slammed it shut. For a second, the two stood in silence, panting in the near-total darkness. Theo pressed his ear to the door to try and figure out if that—thing—had followed them, but was met with silence. He eventually stood, shaking his head and running a hand through his perpetually tangled hair. He looked over at Arthur, who seemed to be staring off into the distance again. At least he didn’t look possessed this time. “What… the fuck just happened?” was all Theo could say. Arthur looked over at him, the moonlight reflecting eerily off his pale blue eyes. 

Instead of answering, he turned resolutely on his heel and once again grabbed the sleeve of Theo’s coat. 

They kept walking until they reached their shared room. Arthur plopped down on his bed, not bothering to turn on the lights. Theo followed suit. He squinted at his roommate. Of all the theories Theo had come up with to explain Arthur’s odd behavior, he had to admit that consorting with naked, pale women at three am was not one of them. And that didn’t even cover the whole black eyes, pointy teeth thing. Theo quickly got tired of letting Arthur brood mysteriously in silence. Crossing his arms, he said, “Planning on answering my question any time soon?” 

Arthur sighed and looked out the window, chewing on his bottom lip. The moon had almost completely disappeared behind the clouds. “Look,” he said, “how much I tell you depends on how much you’re willing to suspend your disbelief.” 

Theo rolled his eyes. “After what I just saw, I’d say my disbelief is pretty fuckin’ suspended,” he replied. He was remembering why he hated English majors, sometimes. 

Arthur scoffed. “What you just saw, in case you couldn’t tell, wasn’t human,” he told Theo. 

“Yeah, no shit,” Theo responded. 

“God, can you make it like, a minute without swearing?” Arthur asked. 

Theo smirked. “Sorry for offending your delicate sensibilities, your highness,” he said. 

Arthur flared his nostrils, clearly struggling to control his temper. Theo worried for his blood pressure. “Do you want me to try and explain this to you, or not? Because I’d be perfectly happy with going to sleep and pretending this never happened. I have an eight am class tomorrow,” Arthur gritted out. 

Theo flopped back on his bed and waved his hand as a gesture for Arthur to continue. 

Arthur sighed again, like the dramatic bastard he was. After a moment, he kicked off his shoes, dumping them on the floor, and stretched out on the twin-sized mattress. Theo took a second to be jealous of Arthur’s height. “I don’t honestly know much more than you do,” Arthur began. “I started having weird dreams this summer since I graduated high school. I don’t even know how to describe them. I’m always in a forest, I think—running from something. Or maybe running to something. And then I hit this invisible wall, and I’m terrified, but I never know why. And then something shatters, and there’s this super bright light and my ears start ringing and I wake up. And I’ve had this same dream almost every night.” 

Theo lifted his head to look at his roommate. “Arthur-” 

“Call me Art.” 

“-not a chance. I’ll admit your dreams are freaky and all, but that doesn’t explain the nudist outside our dorms,” Theo said. 

“Yeah, I’m getting there,” Arthur replied. “Since getting here, on campus, I’ve been feeling this weird pull towards the woods. I’ve mostly just been ignoring it. Today’s the first time anything has actually happened. I haven’t seen—whatever we saw outside—before.” 

Theo puzzled at Arthur’s wording for a second before dismissing it. His head was beginning to hurt anyway. “Look,” he said, “let’s just get some sleep. We can talk about this tomorrow, as long as you’re not disappearing off to wherever you are all day.” Theo finally pulled off his coat, dumping it on his desk chair, and kicked off his boots. 

“Whatever,” Arthur replied, rolling over in his bed, seemingly content to sleep in his jacket. Theo shrugged and collapsed onto his bed. He didn’t feel like puzzling over the events of the night just yet. He fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow. 

\- 

All too soon, Theo’s frankly obnoxious alarm rang out. He groaned. It had only been about three hours since he had fallen asleep, but he really had to get to practice if he wanted to keep his scholarship. Glancing over at Arthur’s bed, he was unsurprised to notice his roommate was already gone. Still, something in him felt settled upon seeing the neatly made bed. Theo rolled out of bed, grabbing his backpack and a granola bar, and hurried out of the room. 

Despite the ungodly hour, Theo smiled to see the lacrosse field lit by the rising sun. The view was spectacular. The field was set on a hill at the edge of campus, which overlooked the small college town that had sprung up next to the university. Taking in the view, Theo headed over to his friends, who were stretching out ahead of the start of practice. 

“You okay, man?” his friend Andrew asked him. 

“Yeah, why?” Theo replied. 

“Nothing, it’s just... your dark circles are looking more pronounced than usual today.” 

Theo snorted. “Wow, thanks,” he said. “I’m fine. Just didn’t get a ton of sleep last night.” 

Andrew nodded, a few strands of his black hair escaping his hair tie, which held half of his hair out of his face. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. It’s not like I regularly get more than six hours a night anyway,” he said with a rueful smile. 

Practice went until 8:30, after which Theo took a quick shower and headed to the library to get coffee and get some homework done. He and calculus had a love-hate relationship, especially after the problem set took him a full two hours to complete, but he tried to convince himself he didn’t regret picking a math major anyway. 

Walking back to his dorm room, Theo tried to stave off an impending headache. Sitting down on his bed, he noticed—unsurprisingly—that Arthur was still gone. Normally Theo wouldn’t care, but that was before what happened last night. It still felt like a dream. And even though Arthur had seemed to be forthcoming, something felt off about his story. Theo just couldn’t put his finger on it. Maybe he could find out more by snooping through Arthur’s things, though. It felt a little dirty, but he figured his morals could take a backseat. In the name of scientific curiosity. 

Looking at Arthur’s desk, Theo noticed one of the drawers had a few papers sticking out of it. Tugging on the handle, he found it was jammed shut. He let out a frustrated noise. Mentally weighing the pros and cons of yanking it open, he settled for risking Arthur’s anger to sate his curiosity. He gave the handle a few more forceful tugs. Finally, it flew out, and Theo fell to the floor with the force of it. The entire drawer compartment had fallen out of the desk. 

Theo kneeled and looked at the drawer’s contents. It was filled with strange, old-looking books and loose sheets of paper. Some of the books seemed to be of the textbook variety, while others looked like journals. A few weren't even in English. Theo picked up the scrap of paper that had been sticking out of the drawer and turned it over. There, on the wrinkled scrap, was an almost picture-perfect sketch of the creature they’d seen the night before. Next to the drawing was a series of bulleted notes, which it looked like Arthur had written himself. Theo couldn’t focus his mind enough to read them. He sat back on his heels, unable to take his eyes off of the drawing. 

Arthur had said he hadn’t seen the woman with the black eyes before. Had he been lying? Or simply dancing around the truth? He clearly knew more than he was letting on. Either way, Theo intended to find out just how much Arthur was hiding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's chapter two! Gonna be inconsistent with this one as homework is kicking my ass but I am planning on eventually finishing this... someday


	3. Masquerade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to chapter 3!  
> Stay tuned for answers, unanswered questions, mommy issues, and more.

Quiet footsteps in the hall were all the warning Theo got before the door banged open. He startled and jumped to his feet, only succeeding in drawing Arthur’s attention to himself faster. Arthur went from blank-faced to angry in the span of a second. “Why are you looking through my desk?” he asked through clenched teeth, glaring at Theo.

Theo forgot his momentary fear at being discovered immediately. “You’ve been hiding things,” he said, no less angrily. He clenched the piece of torn paper in his hand before showing Arthur the contents. “What the hell is this?” he asked.

Arthur paled for a second before remembering his anger. “I don’t remember saying you could look through my desk and then proceed to destroy it,” he said, gesturing at the drawer still lying discarded on the floor.

“Fuck you,” Theo retorted eloquently, “stop misdirecting. I remember you telling me, sometime after your sad little story about your scary little dreams, you’d never seen this thing before.” He pointed at the drawing of the ghoulish woman. “Or do your many mysterious talents now include gaslighting?”

Arthur pursed his lips. “What did you want me to tell you? That I’ve been researching supernatural and mystical occurrences and that they line up with what I’ve been experiencing? For Christ’s sake, I barely know you!” 

“And whose fucking fault is that? Maybe if you weren’t always disappearing somewhere, maybe I could’ve helped you figure something out!” Theo said, nearly shouting. “I mean, fuck. I was out there too, that night. Don’t you think I deserve to know what’s trying to kill me?”

“Stop being so dramatic. It was hardly trying to kill you,” Arthur replied, rolling his eyes.

Theo seethed, taking a deep breath to try and calm himself down. It didn’t work as well as he’d hoped. “In case I haven’t said it enough, fuck you. You wouldn’t know murderous intent if it bit you in the ass, rich boy. I have to get to practice.” Theo marched over to the corner of the room, retrieving his lacrosse stick. He turned around to find Arthur much closer than he’d been before. He looked angry.

Arthur shoved Theo, causing his back to collide with the wall. He pointed at Theo. “You don’t know what the hell you are fucking talking about,” Arthur said in a low voice.

“Oh, so now you’re not above swearing? You kiss your mother with that mouth?” Theo said with a razor-sharp smile.

Arthur fisted a hand in the collar of Theo’s shirt and shoved him against the wall again, this time painfully. Theo winced. “Don’t fucking talk about my mother!” He said, snarling. His eyes looked half-mad. Suddenly nervous, Theo tried to push him away, but was surprised at how strong he seemed. Arthur clenched his fist and reared his hand back—  
Theo blinked.

Suddenly he was collapsing to the ground next to Arthur. But it definitely wasn’t the linoleum tile of their dorm room. It was… grass. Surprisingly soft. Iridescent. Almost too bright of an emerald green. Theo ran his hand through it. Then something in him snapped and he shook his head to clear it, clambering to his feet. Looking down at his hands, he noticed he was somehow still holding his lacrosse stick. A few feet away, Arthur was slowly getting to his feet as well. He squinted his eyes, which looked almost translucent in the blinding sunlight.

Theo looked around. They seemed to be in a field, with long and flowing green grass extending for miles in every direction. The sky was a clear blue; there wasn’t a cloud in sight. That couldn’t be right. The sky had been well on its way to sunset when Arthur had walked into their room. Theo looked up, now expecting a bright sun, but… there was nothing. Just blue sky everywhere. His head spun. He wondered what fresh hell was in store for him now, and whether it would be worse than the day before. He then decided that that was more than likely.  
Theo looked back at Arthur, who was now looking decidedly embarrassed. “Look, I…” He attempted.

“Shut up,” Theo said. “Let’s figure out what the hell just happened first. Then you can write me a lengthy apology where you admit I was right, like always, and then you can explain to me all this supernatural and mystical bullshit you’ve been ranting about.”

“Idiot,” Arthur muttered. Then he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I guess you’re… right,” he grudgingly admitted. It was like pulling teeth.

Theo beamed. “See, was that so hard?” he asked. “Come on, let’s just pick a direction and start walking.” He turned to take a step in the direction opposite to where Arthur was standing. 

As soon as his eyes refocused on the horizon, it was suddenly blocked by a person. No, multiple people. He turned back to Arthur. Somehow, they had been surrounded by a group of people despite having been dumped in the middle of nowhere. Arthur was looking just as confused as Theo felt. Theo backtracked to stand next to him.

Looking around at the people surrounding them, something felt distinctly… off. It was almost like, though the crowd looked normal enough, each person was trying to be something they were not.

Before Theo could think about that for too long, a woman stepped out of the crowd, which had been slowly closing in to form a circle around Theo and Arthur. She had long, white-blonde hair. Her clothes were plain, which looked exceedingly strange, as she was beautiful. She was tall—or taller than Theo, at least, which really wasn’t saying much. Theo couldn’t pinpoint her age. He thought at first she was in her twenties, but then he blinked and she looked closer to her early fifties. Maybe she just had one of those faces. But Theo didn’t really know what kind of a face that was.

“I asked for one,” the woman said, staring at Arthur. Her voice was melodic, entrancing, but Theo could hear an undercurrent of anger. It sparked instinctual fear in him, and he gripped his lacrosse stick. 

“Well, looks like you lucked out. We’re buy one, get one free for today,” Theo retorted and then immediately cursed his own mouth in his head.

The woman swiveled to face him. “You were not permitted to speak, you little rat,” she said, her previously alluring face contorted with anger. Arthur looked at Theo with trepidation in his eyes.  
Theo sighed and decided to throw caution to the wind. He’d always been good at starting fights—though the same couldn’t be said about ending them. He smirked. “If I’m a rat, then I guess you’re a cat. But really, I’d say you’re more of a bitch.”

If Theo was hoping to set the lady off, that certainly did the trick.

Suddenly, it was like something cracked in the air. Theo’s ears popped. It was like a sheet being yanked off to reveal what was underneath: the group surrounding him and Arthur completely transformed. Where before they’d been almost too plain, they now ranged from captivating and beautiful to bone-chillingly horrifying. Theo saw one man with fiery auburn hair, bright green eyes, and pointed ears, and thought he’d never seen anything so striking. Then he turned his head and saw a figure with long, gaunt limbs and antlers bursting from its skull. Its hollow eye sockets were pointed directly at Theo, and he quickly looked away. The bright blue sky was gone, replaced by eerie twilight. They now stood in a dense forest, surrounded by towering pine trees. No grass grew on the barren ground. 

He jumped when he took in the woman’s appearance. She was the same creature he and Arthur had seen the day before. Her empty black eyes bored a hole in his face.  
The woman bared her teeth, revealing them to be the same needle-like points that he remembered. Then, in a fluid motion, she turned her head to Arthur. An eerie smile slowly crept across her face. “Very well,” she said, her voice now an undisguised threat, “I suppose I shall just take back what is mine.” Without warning, she lunged at Arthur, her talon-like fingers extended. 

“No!” Theo screamed. Remembering his lacrosse stick, he lunged forward to try and smack the woman away from his friend. 

Momentarily he felt like he’d been struck by lightning. Something surged up from the ground through the tips of his fingers and into his racquet, and every muscle in his arm tensed. The woman was shocked, for a moment, before being driven back into the crowd before Theo could even blink. 

For a second, the crowd was still, seemingly just as shocked as Theo. Then, like a switch flipped, they surged forward, murder in their eyes. Theo stumbled back. He could really use a nap. Maybe a nice, big meal, maybe not in that order. Luckily Arthur had more presence of mind. He fisted a hand in the back of Theo’s shirt and yanked him back, towards a gap in the writhing crowd. Theo spared a moment to dazedly think about how many times Arthur had yanked at his shirt, and then ran after him. 

Arthur shifted his grip to Theo’s upper arm. Theo tried to yank it back, but Arthur held fast. Both of them still running for their lives, Arthur yelled, “Just trust me!” above the roar of the pursuing crowd.

Theo replied, “Why would I ever do that?” but admitted to himself he didn’t have much of a choice. 

Arthur started mumbling something under his breath that didn’t sound like English. It barely sounded like a human language… and Theo supposed it probably wasn’t. His current willingness to believe in crazy shit was at an all time high. Soon enough, Theo spotted a break in the dense foliage. Something was wrong with the air, almost like the type of thing he’d see on a really hot day; the air seemed to shimmer and ripple past the evergreens. Arthur just kept running full-tilt at the opening, so Theo followed him. As they neared the shimmer, Theo started to hear a rushing in his ears, like a roaring river, the sound building and building, and Arthur was still gripping his arm and yanking him forward, and then—  
Silence. 

Theo landed hard on the floor of his dorm, Arthur landing no less roughly beside him. He still had a death grip on his lacrosse stick. Arthur scrambled to his feet. Theo followed suit, his mind still struggling to process what had just happened. Tapping his racquet on the floor, he looked over at Arthur, who looked terrified yet somehow resolute. Theo tapped his stick on the floor again and looked down at his feet. Suddenly, the floor was rising up to meet him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Calling Theo out for being short and for thinking about Arthur’s eyes too much.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
